How I Escaped My "Box" by Ally

How I Escaped My "Box" by Ally - October 2018 Scholarship Essay

Ever since elementary school, I have heard teachers, coaches, and even family members tell me to think outside of the box. They used it as a way to push me harder. They used it as a way to make me strive to do my best. They used the cliche as a way to expose a side of me that I never knew existed - the side of me that is determined to defy the expectations that I face every day. Thinking outside of the box is more than just finding a creative way to complete a task. Thinking outside of the box is a lifestyle that I choose to live by in order to do more than just meet success, but to take success and run with it until I am proud of myself for what I have completed.
Hearing people tell me to think outside the box in the past would bring stress into my life because I felt that what I had already accomplished was not good enough. I felt that I was not reaching what they expected of me. I did not understand why the other kids could just scrape by while I had to do more. The teachers did not set such high standards for me though. I set the standards of my life. I set my own expectations. However, placing myself under those expectations so early caused me to have to fight to surpass those standards with every task I completed. Discovering how “thinking outside of the box” worked for me though allowed me to become the person I am today; better than I was yesterday and striving to reach a new level of myself tomorrow.
I made my high standards known to my teachers through my work ethic and willingness to learn. They saw that I was a fighter and a determined student who wanted nothing more than to get out of this “box” that students are placed in. With every new task comes a new box that I must think my way out of. No one else can get me out. It is up to me. Thinking outside of the box is different for each person and each task. In my life though, thinking outside of the box means to always find the approach that allows me to succeed and to constantly be the best possible version of myself.
As a senior in high school, my English teacher created a project for us highlighting kindness in our school. She brought in a wooden doll and acted as if he were human and one of our own students. Our assignment was to take this doll with us throughout the school and to outside activities and convince those around us that he was more than just a doll; that he had a purpose despite his differences. She centered the project around learning how to be kind to someone even if they look different, act different, or do not fit in. When I was made aware of this project I immediately shut the idea down. This situation made me have to think outside of the box and figure out how I could make this doll a part of my life. Once I figured out a way to make this work, my box started to open and ideas began pouring in. I wrote a permission slip, signed by my mother, for me to take this doll with me to dance practice. I even got all the girls in my studio to take a picture with me and him so I could show my teacher how much fun we had dancing with our new friend.
Being put in this situation where I had to find a way to make a project, that I had no desire to participate in at first, exciting and creative, challenged me to think beyond the simple ideas that I could have easily invented. This activity also allowed my eyes to be opened to thinking of new ways to show kindness in my school all because I was challenged to do more than the ordinary - all because I was challenged to think outside my box.